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SportzNutz
Network Exclusive |
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Edmonton Oilers |
vs. |
Carolina Hurricanes |
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Game 1:
Hurricanes 5 Oilers 4 |
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June 6, 2006
Hurricanes
Prevail… Oilers Suffer Devastating Injury
It was Edmonton that was supposed to be rusty after a 9-day
layoff, but after thirty-seven minutes of play the Oilers had a
3-0 lead over the Hurricanes. The Canes looked flat, played
flat and rookie sensation Cam Ward didn’t look so sensational in
net, but with prevailing hurricane like winds on ice, the
Hurricanes picked up steam and stormed back to match the biggest
comeback in finals history.
While teams can overcome deficits, it’s very tough to
overcome injuries and the Oilers were hit hard when Dwayne
Roloson was injured late in the third period. Roloson had played
every minute of Edmonton’s games during the playoffs, and had
been the number one reason that the Oilers were able to be where
they are right now. It was a “Cinderella Story” in the making…
traded by the Wild at the trading deadline, Roloson saved the
day for the Oilers – no other goalie since Bill Ranford had won
twelve consecutive playoff games.
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Dwayne Roloson is
attended to by trainer Ken Lowe |
With the score tied at four all, Cane’s rookie Andrew Ladd
carried the puck into the Oilers zone and cut across in front of
the net. Unfortunately, Ladd was met there by trailing
defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron who unloaded a big hit from
behind that drove Ladd in Roloson. Roloson’s knee twisted
awkwardly against the post and that was it for the night and the
series. Roloson’s amazing run was over and now it’ll be left up
to Ty Conklin and Jussi Markkanen.
Edmonton opened the scoring early in the first period on
Fernando Pisani’s 10th playoff goal after the Canes
failed to clear the zone… it remained 1-0 until Chris Pronger
scored on a penalty shot midway into the second period. With
Niclas Wallin of the Cane’s being called for touching the puck
in the crease with his glove, Chris Pronger was awarded a
penalty shot. Pronger, who had one of his best years on ice,
beat Ward on the stick side to put the Oilers up 2-0. The
penalty shot had been awarded nine times in finals history, with
the last one coming back in 1994 – but no one had ever scored…
Less than six minutes later, Ethan Moreau scored to put the
Oilers up 3-0. Minutes later, Rod Brind’Amour finally tallied
the Canes first goal to cut the deficit to 3-1 and the Cane’s
comeback was underway but would have to wait until the third
period to continue on.
With the momentum on their side, Ray Whitney scored on the
games first shot of the third period, cutting the score to 3-2…
minutes later Whitney added his second goal on a rebound and now
with the score tied 3-all it was apparent that the Hurricanes
had taken the life out of the Oilers.
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Rod
Brind’Amour (17) scores his second goal of the game, which
would be the game winner into the empty net with 31.1
seconds remaining in the third period.
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At the half way mark of the period, Justin Williams picked
up a turnover at the blue line and raced in on Roloson beating
him with a low shot to give the Cane’s a 4-3. With the fans
going crazy, a win on their minds the Oilers got a pick-me-up
when they tied the score on a power-play goal from
Ales Hemsky.
That pick-me-up lasted just 30-seconds as on the ensuing
play Roloson was injured and with Ty Conklin in nets the hope
was to take the game into overtime and regroup… but that didn’t
happen. With 31.1 seconds remaining Conklin botched an exchange
behind the net with Jason Smith, which allowed a sneaking Rod
Brind’Amour who was behind the net to pick up the puck and wrap
it around into an empty net, giving the Cane’s a 5-4 lead.
No doubt the loss of Roloson is devastating to a team that
has counted on him since his arrival in Edmonton. Although Ty
Conklin or Jussi Markkanen are capable of handling the backup
chores, neither one are capable of handling the pressures
imposed at this time.
Conklin was seeing his first game action in over two
months, while Markkanen hasn’t been in a game situation since
February… so, any chance of the Oilers winning the Stanley Cup
must now rely on these two to lead them, which in my opinion
makes the Hurricanes a sure winner.
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Carolina D Glen Wesley took two shots off his right leg
during an Edmonton power play late in the first and hobbled to
the bench. Unable to put any weight on the leg, he had to
helped to the dressing room, but in true hockey form he
returned to the ice before the period was done.
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The last team to overcome a three-goal deficit in the
Stanley Cup Finals: Pittsburgh in 1992 for a 5-4 victory over
Chicago.
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Ty Conklin, who had been stuck on the Edmonton bench for
the entire post-season -17 playoff games and the first 54:06
of the finals opener. He hadn’t played since the
regular-season finale on April 17th when he allowed
two goals on 18 shots in Edmonton’s 4-2 victory over Colorado.
That snapped a 19-game stretch of inactivity for Conklin,
whose previous appearance was on March 7 against Dallas.
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Jussi Markkanen sat out the last 23 games of the regular
season… not even dressing 11 times. He has not seen game
action since Feb. 12th.
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If not for a big trade 11 years ago, the Carolina
Hurricanes might be featuring top Chris Pronger instead of
facing him in the Stanley Cup Finals. Pronger was chosen by
the Hartford Whalers with the second pick in the 1993 draft.
After two average NHL seasons, general manager Jim Rutherford
traded the 20-year-old Pronger to St. Louis in a big deal that
brought Brendan Shanahan to the Whalers.
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Scoring Summary |
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1st Period |
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Edmonton |
8:18, Fernando Pisani 10 (Raffi Torres, Jaroslav Spacek) |
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2nd
Period |
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Edmonton |
10:36, Chris Pronger 5 (penalty shot) |
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Edmonton |
16:23, Ethan Moreau 2 (Matt Greene) |
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Carolina |
17:17, Rod Brind'Amour 10 (Justin Williams, Cory Stillman) |
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3rd Period |
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Carolina |
1:40, Ray Whitney 7 (Doug Weight, Andrew Ladd) |
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Carolina |
5:09, Ray Whitney 8 (power play) (Mark Recchi, Eric Staal) |
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Carolina |
10:02, Justin Williams 6 (shorthanded) (Chad LaRose,
Aaron Ward) |
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Edmonton |
13:31, Ales Hemsky 5 (power play) (Jarret Stoll,
Chris Pronger) |
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Carolina |
19:28, Rod Brind'Amour 11 (unassisted) |
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Team |
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Shots on Goal |
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Faceoffs |
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Power Plays |
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1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Total |
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Won |
Lost |
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Converted |
Total |
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Edmonton
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8 |
12 |
18 |
38 |
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28 |
45 |
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1 |
7 |
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Carolina
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8 |
7 |
11 |
26 |
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45 |
28 |
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1 |
5 |
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